Thu, 06 Aug 2009 by Corbie Dillard
Mario's greatest portable adventure?
Nintendo managed to squeeze quite a bit of the Super Mario experience into the original Super Mario Land, but many gamers felt like the game was a bit too scaled down to feel like a true Super Mario adventure. Nintendo obviously sensed this when they sat down to create Super Mario Land 2, as the game basically took everything that was great about the original and made it bigger and better. The end result was a much more well-rounded Super Mario game and one that further proved that the Game Boy could offer up a home console-quality gaming experience when done correctly. Of course this game is also well known for being the game that would introduce the gaming world to Wario, a character that would soon have a game series of his own...but that's a topic for another review.
The story in Super Mario Land 2 revolves around a new nemesis for Mario. The evil and greedy Wario has taken control of Mario's Castle and now it's up to everyone's favourite plumber to unlock the seal that Wario has put on the castle door itself. This means that you'll have to play through six different areas in order to collect the hidden coin in each area. These areas range from the haunted Pumpkin Zone to the mechanically-themed Mario Zone. Each area features four levels for you to play through with a boss located at the end of the fourth area - if you can take out the boss, you will then be rewarded with a coin. Collecting all six coins will then allow you to unlock Wario's Castle and take the greedy one down once and for all.
You'll still spend the majority of your time running and jumping from ledge to ledge, but this time around Mario has a few new tricks up his sleeve. While Mario can still grab the Power Flower, this time around his trusty fireball is back instead of the silly bouncing ball from Super Mario Land. He can also grab a new Magic Carrot power-up that will supply him with a cute little set of rabbit ears. With these rabbit ears he can temporarily fly through the air, which can make traversing some of the trickier areas much easier, not to mention a couple of the nastier boss fights.
As you traverse each level there will be certain times when a secret exit can be found that will take you to various bonus levels hidden throughout the world map. At the end of each level you'll find an exit door along with a tiny bell up near the top of the screen. If you can ring the bell, you'll get to play a bonus mini-game that can earn you special power-ups and free lives, but you can still finish the level by using the standard door if you somehow miss the bell and can no longer reach it.
The play control in Super Mario Land 2 feels quite a bit more refined than that of the original release. It has a much tighter feel to it that tends to make some of the more pinpoint platforming sections a bit more manageable and playable. The levels themselves are also longer and more intricate in design, which also adds to the game's heightened sense of playability. It's clear that the developers at Nintendo wanted to smooth out some of the rough edges from the original release and they clearly went above and beyond the call of duty with this amazing package. The play control is more on par with the home console releases this time around and the end result is a much higher quality gaming experience as a whole.
As if the step up in gameplay wasn't enough, Nintendo also cranked up the visual quality for this sequel. Not only are the background much more detailed, the individual character and enemy sprites are also much larger and better animated as well. There's also a much wider range of contrasting shades of black this time around, sometimes going a little overboard and making the action a bit difficult to follow on the non-backlit Game Boy models. Of course if you're using a backlit system or a Super Game Boy this isn't a problem. The step up in visual quality is really staggering to be honest, and a solid indicator of just how quickly the developers were gaining a handle on how to make use of the Game Boy's hardware capabilities.
In keeping with the theme of improvement, the musical score and sound effects also got a boost for this sequel. Not only are many of the sound effects much more familiar-sounding, but they're also of a higher quality. Even the musical score itself is quite a bit better than the one found in the original release. There's also a lot more diversity between the various tunes, with many of the tunes fitting in perfectly with the theme of the area in which they're featured. Even considering that Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was still a fairly early Game Boy title, you certainly wouldn't know it from the quality of the music the developers were able to harness from the system's limited sound capabilities. It's still one of the better Game Boy musical scores and yet another good example of Nintendo's diligence in making this sequel that much better than the previous release.
1. malnin
06 Aug 2009, 09:38 BST
An oldie but a super goodie.
2. Archy 06 Aug 2009, 09:38 BST
Awesome review!!! and an AWESOME game!!!
3. y2josh
06 Aug 2009, 09:56 BST
Great review. Ahh the memories. I loved the moon stages and also the micro house or whatever it was called. But they all were great!
4. dsijared
06 Aug 2009, 10:00 BST
best gameboy game ever!!!
5. werdy
06 Aug 2009, 10:11 BST
10/10. Incredible amount of secrets and long-long days and nigths spent with this game. Must have!
6. Bass X0
06 Aug 2009, 10:21 BST
Great game. I agree on the difficulty being easy but I'd rather play this than Super Mario Land 1. But this isn't as good as Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land. Not by a long shot.
What really sucks is that none of the SML games have been ported to a later system. I'd buy them all especially if they had improved graphics. Sadly, if you want to play these, you have to get the originals.
7. Corbie
06 Aug 2009, 10:25 BST
I would love to see Nintendo makes a Super Mario Land Trilogy with updated sound and graphics for the DS. I'd pay good money for that.
8. Damo
06 Aug 2009, 10:40 BST
@Bass X0 - Super Mario Land 3 is an entirely different kind of game though, so there's little point in comparing the two. Wario controls a lot differently to Mario.
I know they called it SML3, but in reality it's really Wario Land 1.
9. Bass X0
06 Aug 2009, 10:41 BST
They're both platform games. As platform games go, Wario Land is much better.
10. Turbo Genesis 64
06 Aug 2009, 10:51 BST
I would give it a 10 too! True, it still was in B&W, but it looked better than so many of the Lynx and Game Gear games. Plus, the difficulty kicks in effect once you get to Wario's castle.
11. Corbie
06 Aug 2009, 10:54 BST
Yep, but by then it's the end of the game.
It makes you wonder why they made that castle so difficult but couldn't up the difficulty in the other areas.
12. Betagam7
06 Aug 2009, 12:02 BST
For me this game doesn't deserve a 9 as its so absurdly easy you can beat the whole game, doing every level in around 2 hours.
Graphically and sonically the game is a huge step up from SML but the game is so easy it puts Kirby's adventures to shame.
Get it only if you want something that'll last you a day.
It's worth mentioning one truly bizzare moment in the game though. The world that is a giant Mario features a level accessable by entering Mario's crotch...the level consists of hundreds of bouncing balls!
How that got past Nintendo's morality police of the 90's I don't know.
13. RaviC
06 Aug 2009, 12:18 BST
Great review, I agree with the score completely.
This game was probably the better of the two since it had saving and better graphics, and also a map from which you could select your next course. I also liked the weird levels this had, it made it quite interesting.
14. Turbo Genesis 64
06 Aug 2009, 12:45 BST
@Corbie
I can live with SML 2 getting a 9, but personally, I think SML deserves a 7. How can a single point seperate those two game?
15. MarkyVigoroth
06 Aug 2009, 12:48 BST
I think this was my first ever video game (along with a green GameBoy Pocket). (Surprisingly, the earliest reading material that I remember reading was the manual of this game.
...I began reading at age 3, by the way.)
16. Rensch
06 Aug 2009, 12:49 BST
Best Game boy platformer along with Wario Land which is technically a sequel/spinoff of this game.
17. DiggerandIndy
06 Aug 2009, 13:24 BST
Hadn't played that game in years! I should go get it some time!
18. Tony
06 Aug 2009, 13:43 BST
I would love to try this game. Maybe a DSi VC would give me chance to change that.
19. CowLaunch
06 Aug 2009, 13:46 BST
@Damo
Whilst Wario controls differently to Mario, I'd say that Mario from SML controls very differently from Mario in SL2. I see more similarities between SML2 & SML3 than between SML & SML2.
I consider it a trilogy, the subsequent Wario Land games felt like their own series to me.
20. Bring Back Pluto
06 Aug 2009, 13:50 BST
I can't believe I just found this in my toy chest this morning!
Note to you all: Don't throw away the toy chest!
21. Fuzzy
06 Aug 2009, 13:54 BST
Great game! I can only remember a handful of game boy games I played as a kid, but I can remember this one like it was yesterday! Loved the power-ups!
22. chunky_droid
06 Aug 2009, 14:00 BST
I love that Corbie gets the Mario Land games
. Great game, finished it many a time in my day, though always found inside the tree was hard to see on the old school gameboys! Insanely easy, but it was always fun every step of the way
23. Aenaida
06 Aug 2009, 14:03 BST
Awesome game. Bought it off my brother for $5 when he tried to sell it.
24. SUPERZELDAMAN
06 Aug 2009, 14:48 BST
i remmeber borriwng this from my friend when i was little and accidentally deleting their file
25. Bass X0
06 Aug 2009, 15:12 BST
Get it only if you want something that'll last you a day.
Its such a fun game that you'll enjoy replaying through the whole game again and again.
26. uel
06 Aug 2009, 15:21 BST
Mario shot a bouncing ball in Super Mario Land? It always looked like fire to me...
27. Bahamut ZERO
06 Aug 2009, 15:33 BST
and now it's up to everyone's favourite plumber to unlock the seal that Wario has put on the castle door itself.
You mean Joe the Plumber's in this game?! Sweet!!!
I kid, I kid. Great score for a great game. One of the few non-Pokemon games I had for the GB.
28. Hyper Luigi
06 Aug 2009, 15:43 BST
Awesome review! I have never played it, but I plan to soon!
29. warioswoods
06 Aug 2009, 15:48 BST
I'd give this game a 7 at best. It certainly has a lot going on in it, with just about every kind of enemy and location thrown in at some point, but the core platforming and level design is incredibly bland, and the enemies and locations just feel like they were thrown in by about 20 different people with no attempt at coherence. It simply doesn't live up to the Mario name by any stretch of the imagination.
Now, generally speaking, it's still a pretty fun game that I'd buy on a DSi VC; it's just not something that deserves much critical praise, as it's sort of analogous to an over-budgeted feature film that tried to cram too many things into the formula and ended up doing nothing particularly well.
30. pixelman
06 Aug 2009, 16:14 BST
Bwahahaha! This time I can say "I've played this game and it's awesome!", because I have, and it is. The platforming is incredibly solid, and the game itself is just pure fun.
Great review Corbie, I love this game.
31. Digiki
06 Aug 2009, 16:21 BST
This was a pretty good game, but I traded it for the much better Azure Dreams and never looked back.
32. PhoenixSage
06 Aug 2009, 16:27 BST
Ack! I have to track this down someday...How did I miss it? It sounds like such a good game. Then again, with Pokemon nearly glued in my Game Boy Color I probably never would have played it.
33. pixelman
06 Aug 2009, 16:37 BST
@PhoenixSage: There are loads of copies available for cheaps off of Amazon and Ebay. I was lucky enough to get my copy at our local game shop.
34. accc
06 Aug 2009, 16:41 BST
Great game, much better than the original Mario Land! (Which SUCKED, let's face it.)
35. PhoenixSage
06 Aug 2009, 17:25 BST
@pixelman: Your local game shop sounds awesome from what I've heard about it. We need something like that here! Or, at least I need something like that.
I'll see if I can't get a good copy off of Ebay when I have a little spending money. I've missed out on too many good handheld games.
36. Objection_Blaster
06 Aug 2009, 17:44 BST
Great game. though I never managed to beat it. I also think these games would be great for DSi VC or a DS remake.
37. pixelman
06 Aug 2009, 18:32 BST
@PhoenixSage: Yeah it's pretty sweet. It's locally owned, and it's got tons of NES, SNES, N64, GC, MD, SS, SD, GB, GBC, GBA, Xbox, PS, and PS2 games, and even a few systems. Miiloveit.
38. LEGEND MARIOID
06 Aug 2009, 19:27 BST
A classic.
39. Joe Diddley
06 Aug 2009, 20:09 BST
I had Mario Land 1 & 3 for my Gameboy but missed out on this. Now that I have been reunited with my Gameboy this is on my wishlist. Or should I keep dreaming of dsi vc??
40. WolfRamHeart
06 Aug 2009, 21:01 BST
Fantastic review Corbie! Sadly, I didn't have very many Game Boy games and I never got the chance to play this one. Hopefully I can find a copy somewhere unless Nintendo finally decides to make that rumored DSi Virtual Console a reality. I guess I shouldn't hold my breath.
41. Relevant Latty
06 Aug 2009, 21:57 BST
@WolfRamHeart: I had the same problem since I got the Game Boy very late in it's life (1998/1999). I am guessing everyone at least had this though as well as Pokémon.
This game is truly a classic and I hope they start a new "Mario Land DS" line up
.
42. slapshot82
06 Aug 2009, 23:53 BST
@Corbie... me and u both. I would gladly shell out money for a SML triology remake.
43. MetalMario
07 Aug 2009, 03:33 BST
Indian Mario rocks. So does this game.
44. MetalMario
07 Aug 2009, 03:34 BST
@pixelman: What's the name of the store? That sounds amazing!
45. Mike
07 Aug 2009, 03:37 BST
Great game, 10/10!
46. pixelman
07 Aug 2009, 04:16 BST
@MetalMario: Game World. Yeah I know, VERY original.
47. y2josh
07 Aug 2009, 08:57 BST
@pixelman: We Sale Games Here would be more original
48. jpfan1989
07 Aug 2009, 11:57 BST
After reading the review i decided to dig up my copy out of the "game droar" for some nostalgia
49. Crunc
07 Aug 2009, 20:22 BST
This was actually the second Mario game I ever completed. And I only did that this year. The first one I completed was New Super Mario Bros for the DS, which is also awesome. I followed those with Super Mario Bros 3 (on GBA). I actually have to give the hand to SML2 and NSMB, because I rather prefer a game that never gets to the levels of frustration that SMB3 did. Mind you, SMB3 is a great game, but overall I think SML2 and NSMB are more fun.
50. Ricardo91
07 Aug 2009, 21:02 BST
This is the first Mario game I ever played, and probably one of the first games I played period, and I've beaten it dozens of times. Always been one of my top 10 GB games. The only problem I found with it was that it was way too easy. Even at 7 I didn't have much trouble with it at all. They even added insult to injury by including an easy mode. For that, I give it an 8/10
51. super-nintendo
09 Aug 2009, 01:22 BST
I'll celebrate the GAMEBOY 20th Anniversary by buying this game on amazon.com. I have Super Mario Land 1 but never played either 2 or 3.
52. Darknyht
09 Aug 2009, 21:54 BST
The best one out there, but then I never cared for Wario. You did forget to mention the optional hidden levels, although I remember finishing the game on the old gameboy with added light source.
Sometimes I miss the extra challenge of the blurring screen.
53. iSonic
10 Aug 2009, 01:44 BST
Yet another game to squeeze into my game collection.
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